


Endbound

by brunettachoppa687, TTICSY (phantomofthefandoms)



Series: The Things I Could Show You [20]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-11
Updated: 2015-05-11
Packaged: 2018-03-30 03:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3920935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brunettachoppa687/pseuds/brunettachoppa687, https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomofthefandoms/pseuds/TTICSY
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Guys in White managed to get a hold of something dangerous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Endbound

**Author's Note:**

> This little drabble takes place between My Lovers Keeper and Beauty Marked, so pre-first kiss~ Enjoy!

The inside of the GIW headquarters was – as expected – blindingly white.  Glaring spotlights shone off freshly painted white walls and shiny white tiles.  The steel desks were polished like mirrors, you could even see your face in the trash cans!

Floating invisibly behind a wall, Danny was starting to realize why the agents wore sunglasses everywhere.

“Seriously, how high is this place’s electric bill?” he whispered through his intercom, squinting into the busy cubicles.  “It has to be astronomical!”

“Hush, Daniel.”

Vlad’s voice came through the tiny speaker nestled by his eardrum; Danny felt the tension in his shoulders ease at the sound.  He almost flushed at his body’s reaction, but banished those thoughts before they could distract him.  They were on a mission here.

Earlier that morning, Vlad had pulled their regular schedule and took him aside, speaking to him in an urgent voice.  Danny hadn’t understood a lot of the words that he’d used to describe the object they were stealing from the Guys in White, but he understood “incredibly dangerous” and “in the wrong hands.”

It was something of unknown size and origin… an object Vlad said the government was calling “Endbound.”

“I’m going in,” Vlad murmured.

Danny stayed where he was, watching the agents closely.  He was the sentry; his mentor had told him strictly that he wasn’t skilled enough yet to get past the security systems guarding the Endbound.  Vlad would steal it, but unfortunately, the alarms on the Endbound systems were silent; if he accidentally tripped one, he wouldn’t know.  Danny would have to warn him if the agents started moving.

Minutes ticked by.  Agents kept tapping away at their laptops, sipping at their coffee, chatting in dull voices…

Danny felt himself winding tighter.  “Vlad?” he whispered.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, but I just—“

“I’m almost there, badger.  Hang tight.”

At this point, the ghost boy was wound tighter than a coiled spring.  “That’s the problem…” he whispered.

“If you’re nervous, it’s okay – oh no.”

“What?  What?!” Danny hissed, eyes wide.  His head whipped up at a blur of motion in his peripheral vision; the agents were converging on a monitor, their dull voices growing sharp with alarm.  “Vlad, I think you tripped something!!”

“I know, I know, but I’m almost there!” Vlad whispered.

Danny could hear his cloak fluttering as he sped up.  More lights flashed, and the agents barked orders.  They grabbed weapons, charging them up.  “Vlad, I’m coming down there, you’ll need backup!”

“No!  Get up to the roof, I’ll meet you in twenty seconds!”

The ghost boy bit his lip, torn.  His green eyes flicked up at the glass roof… then down at the floor…!

Danny’s brow furrowed.  He made a decision.

“I’ll meet you in ten seconds.”

“DANIEL, DON’T–!”

Danny pried the microphone out of his ear and tucked it into a pouch on his hip, turning intangible and flying into the floor – streaking down floor after floor, then vanishing into sudden darkness as he sunk through the bedrock at the speed of a car on the highway.  Five seconds later, he emerged into a room barely lighter than the bedrock.  There was only one source of light in the room.

The Endbound.

Danny stopped, blinking at it like he was seeing the sky for the first time.  Barely larger than a walnut fruit, it glowed within a small containment field – presumably on its own power – like a tiny, jewel-blue sun.  Soft flares of energy reached out, caressing against the field.  Its appearance was mysterious on its own… but what really made Danny stare in awe was the feeling of sheer awe and otherworldliness that it radiated.  Not like it came from another world, but like it promised a new existence to Danny.  A new start.  In a place where stress and worry had no relevance.  In the world of the Endbound.

The younger halfa had been expecting a huge gun or a monster in a cage… but this thing looked so gentle… so alluring… almost alive, beckoning him…

Danny hadn’t realized he had floated closer until he had reached through the containment field.

He touched the Endbound…

All at once, everything around Danny was swallowed in white.

~*~

The ghost boy’s entire body seized.  His eyes rolled up in his head.  His white hair bled to black and his jumpsuit phased into a t-shirt and jeans; he didn’t change back into Fenton voluntarily.  Phantom was leeched out of his human form.

Danny’s vacated body fell two yards to the rocky floor and struck it with a thud.

Only an instant later, Vlad phased through the wall.  His scarlet eyes zeroed in on the Endbound – transfixed in the same way – but then, he spotted his pupil collapsed on the ground.

The ghost’s eyes expression contracted in horror. “DANIEL!”

Then the Guys in White were storming the containment room.  Vlad whipped around in alarm – he couldn’t let them see Danny in human form! – leapt in front of his motionless student, and threw up a shield, crouching down and shaking his shoulder frantically.  “Badger, what’s wrong?!”

Lasers blasted past his shield.  “Wake up!” he cried.

PEW!

“WAKE UP!”

~*~

Silence.

Utter silence.

He couldn’t even hear his own heartbeat.

Slowly, Danny opened his eyes – gazing tranquilly into darkness, rushing past him at incredible speeds.  He blinked, absently wondering why he couldn’t feel any wind blowing in his face, or against his skin.  At this speed, he should have to feel SOMETHING…

Then, light billowed out silently around him, enveloping the boy’s naked spirit.  It dissolved into blackness and stars, into shapes that he could recognize…

Danny’s mouth fell open gently in awe at the sight of the Earth far below him.  It shone like a beautifully flawed blue jewel in the dark, velvet shroud of space, its folds littered with the twinkling diamonds of the stars.  A force more powerful – and gentle – than any he’d ever felt cradled his soul a thousand miles away from his home planet.  Slowly, though, Danny could feel it pulling him away…

Towards a light he could feel shining onto his back.

All he had to do was turn around, and all this would be a thing of the past, the force told him.  No more pain.  No more fighting.  No more misunderstandings, unhappiness, or struggle.

But the force was honest, too.  Deep inside Danny, it admitted he would be leaving behind his family, his town, and Vlad.  They would have to face life without him.  They would fight.  They would yell.  They would cry.

But if he left now… with time, they would be okay.

If he left later – for reasons the force would not tell him – they would not be.

It was Danny’s choice.

~*~

The Endbound shattered.

Pieces of jewel-blue machinery flew in every which direction.  As they went dark, they hurtled through the containment field, embedding themselves in the walls of its bedrock prison.  Vlad lowered his smoking fist… glaring with scarlet eyes back at the GIW agent he had by the neck.

“YOU FOOL!” the man yelled, struggling.  “We had stumbled upon a bridge to the afterlife!!  Think of the research!!  Think of the AWARDS!!”

“Think of the money, is more like it.”

Vlad slammed him into the wall and let his unconscious body fall.  “Do NOT interfere with forces you do not understand!” he hissed.  “You don’t know what you’re DEALING WITH.”

Leaning down, the older halfa took off his cape with a flourish, wrapping it around Danny’s body and picking it up.  Gazing down at him, Vlad brushed a lock of black hair away from his soft face.

Daniel was breathing again.

Baby blue eyes opened slowly to gaze up at the older halfa – glittering with a mix of fear, comfort, and uncertainty, like a fallen baby bird placed back in its nest.  The boy’s lashes fluttered… then he fell back to sleep, head thumping against his teacher’s chest.

“You never did know what you were dealing with…” Vlad murmured, feeling a flutter under Danny’s touch.

The older halfa turned intangible and flew up through the ceiling.

~*~*~

Three days later, Danny woke up to Vlad’s hands running over his skin.  His fingers were going through motions that the boy recognized; checking his pulse, changing the wet, cool cloth on his forehead, and listening to his lungs.

He flinched back when the freezing metal of a stethoscope touched his naked chest.  “Mm!” he complained.

“Danny?”

Vlad hurriedly put the instrument down and cupped Danny’s face, thumbs stroking his cheeks worriedly.  “Daniel, if you can hear me, give me a sign,” he said, trying hard to keep his voice even.  “Move a finger, SAY something…”

“Mmmnnn…”

Danny pried an eye open, putting as much snark in his voice as he could manage.  “Something…” he smirked.

“OH, YOU LITTLE SUGAR COOKIE!!”

Vlad sighed violently in relief – and then shook Danny like a bad puppy.  “Give me a HEART ATTACK, why don’t you?!” he snapped.  “You’ve been out for three days!  I was starting to fear the worst!!”

“Q-Quit sh-sh-shaking m-me or you’ll g-get the worst!!” Danny yelped.

The older halfa groaned and hugged him tight.  “The Endbound turned out to be an artificial gateway to whatever takes us after death.  It was entirely a happy accident on their part, I know they won’t be able to do it again even if they tried, but…”

Danny blushed pink at the slight tremble of those big hands.

“I… I was afraid I had lost you…” Vlad whispered.

The boy blinked – still flushing – and glanced up at his mentor, even if he couldn’t see it.  He reached up, hesitating… then wrapped his arms gingerly around the older man’s waist, his heart beating so hard he was embarrassed that Vlad might hear it.

“Don’t be stupid…” Danny muttered, bright red.  “I’ll always be here…”

Smiling, Vlad kissed his hair gratefully.

“It makes me happy to hear you say that, badger…” he murmured.  “It truly does…”


End file.
